ILACSD’s Top 5 Scarily Awesome Halloween Crafts (made from items around the house)!

Halloween is right around the corner, and we have some great crafts that reuse everyday items! “Witch” will you choose?

1. Many of us have empty plastic milk jugs and an old strand of Christmas lights lying around somewhere. Clean out the milk containers and draw a spooky ghost face on the plastic. Poke a hole in the back of the jugs and thread the Christmas lights through them. Plug in and… BOO! You’ve got yourself some glowing luminaries that look great lining your path or on your porch Halloween night.

2. Planning a Halloween party or just want a fun treat for your kids to bring to school? Reuse a six-pack of soda bottles to make colorful candy jars. Wash the bottles and fill with (small) candies of your choice. Decorate the soda box, and then craft some ghouly witchy paper tags to tie around each bottle. You could also fill these with healthy snacks, like nuts or trail mix, or, for a really terrifying Halloween for the kids, peas or edamame!

3. Costume shopping for kids can be a real nightmare. By the time you find the cat ears (fake only, please) at one store, the right shoes at another, and the makeup at a third, you’ve run around down for the past three weeks and are out $100. Making your own costume with items around the house is a great solution, and it keeps outgrown costumes from ending up in the trash. So grab the nearest kid and a glue stick and get to work transforming that child into a cardboard crocodile or e-friendly Wall-E.

4. Frankenstein made a monster, and you can too (less liability with this version). Create your own Frankenstein’s monster out of an empty tin can. Paint your can green, draw on some stiches and a mouth, pop on some googly eyes and hair made from cloth or paper. Screw two bolts in to the monster’s neck, sing “Monster Mash”, and voila! You’ve become a mad scientist.

5. Still have some plastic milk jugs left over? This craft is a bit more elaborate, but look how great it turns out! It will last year to year, and your neighbors will be impressed by your resourcefulness and then you’ll spend the next decade one-upping each other with recycled decorations.